(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproduction apparatus that is capable of reproducing a plurality of sets of picture data recorded on an optical disc with being classified into motion image sections and still image sections. Also, the present invention relates to a computer-readable recording medium that makes a computer execute reproduction processing.
(2) Background Art
Recordable DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), such as a DVD-RAM (DVD Random Access Memory), DVD-R (Digital Video Disc-Recordable), DVD-R/W (DVD-Read/Write), and DVD+RW (DVD+ReWritable), are used as recording media for wide varieties of devices like video cameras and TV broadcast recorders. In some cases, motion images and still images together constitute one reproduction route. An example of such cases is when a recordable DVD is used as a recording medium for a video camera. Since only a limited number of DVDs can be carried with the video camera, the user wishes to record as many videos as possible onto one DVD. In recent years, some video cameras are capable of recording still images as well as motion images. With this kind of video camera, the user may try to make full use of the total recording time by recording a scene of a moving person as a motion image, and a scene of a motionless landscape as a still image. According to the DVD video recording standard that defines a DVD recording format, the still image and motion image recorded in this way are processed as one reproduction route, as if they are recorded on one video tape. This produces a reproduction route that includes both a motion image section and a still image section on the DVD.
The following describes how a conventional DVD reproduction apparatus reproduces such a reproduction route. A conventional DVD player is roughly composed of a read unit, an MPEG decoder, and a system control unit. The read unit accesses a recordable DVD to read picture data. The MPEG decoder decodes the read picture data. The system control unit receives a user operation and instructs the MPEG decoder to start decoding the picture data.
According to the DVD video recording standard, a still image is generally processed in units of still VOBs (Video OBjects). Each still VOB includes an I-picture (Intra Picture) that is intra-frame coded picture data, and a sequence end code.
The sequence end code indicates the end of the still VOB. Upon decoding the sequence end code, therefore, the MPEG decoder is provided in the DVD player freezes in a state of displaying the lastly decoded picture data. By inserting the sequence end code into each still VOB, the DVD player that is designed to play back motion images can also display still images.
However, the use of the sequence end code for displaying still images has the following disadvantage. Suppose a reproduction route alternately composed of a still image section and a motion image section is recorded onto a recordable DVD. Here, the motion image section is made up of motion VOBs and the still image section is made up of still VOBs. In this case, various special reproduction can be performed in the motion image section, whereas only such limited control that suspends reproduction after displaying each still image can be performed in the still image section. This causes inconsistency in reproducing the motion image section and the still image section.
Special reproduction typically includes rapid reproduction such as “forward scan” and “backward scan”, and slow reproduction. When the user wishes to view a motion image section quickly, he or she instructs the DVD player to perform rapid reproduction. On the other hand, when the user wishes to take time viewing the motion image section, he or she instructs the DVD player to perform either normal reproduction or slow reproduction. For a motion image section, the DVD player can comply with the user's intension by accepting designation of such special reproduction. For a still image section, however, the reproduction is always to be suspended once decoding the sequence end code, regardless of the user designation of normal reproduction or special reproduction. This means that reproduction control to comply with the user intention is not at all performed in the still image section.
When the user intends to view the motion image section quickly by special reproduction, he or she designates a reproduction speed, so that the reproduction time of the motion image section is shortened in accordance with the designated speed. For the still image section, however, reproduction is suspended after displaying each still image, regardless of the designated reproduction speed. This may end up irritating the user.
When the still image section includes only a few still images, the user may stand this inconvenience. However, if the still image section includes as many as ten or twenty still images, suspension of the reproduction after displaying each still image will seriously undermine the user's impressions.